Thorns Have Roses
by Maurever
Summary: 'Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns. I am thankful that thorns have roses.' 50 scenes and snapshots from the life of an unlikely couple. Envy x Rose, mangaverse. 6: He craves touch.
1. Prologue

_A/N: I'll be updating We Never Had Pictures tomorrow, seriously. I'm sorry for neglecting my FMA fics a bit… Naruto and school have been almost equally guilty. Anyhow, I recently found a list of 50 prompts which practically screamed 'Write Envy x Rose!'. I've been looking to write more of this couple but have had a hard time thinking of a plot, so this seemed like a good idea. _

_Generally these are rated T, but I'll put in individual warnings with the chapters that need them. I'll also say if it's AU, very AU, semi-canon, so on. Oh, and I'll be doing a 50 prompts for the Animeverse soon, just FYI._

_Disclaimer: I don't own FMA or the prompt list. _

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><p><em>01. Prologue<em>

It was a strange story, theirs, sewn together with the fragile threads of coincidence and the suspension of disbelief. Rose was never much of a storyteller, but Envy's fascination with tales has given her a bit of experience, and she amuses herself by thinking of how she'd arrange the cobweb-thin fantasy woven between the two of them.

Start with Lior, perhaps, because that's at the root of their meeting, the greatest coincidence. Envy was not one to usually take on assignments that weren't his, and she had never been strong enough to stand against the opinions of others and stay in a place where she was not wanted. Funny how they both changed just enough soon enough to meet, with a touch of the divine about it; Rose would like to think so, although Envy would laugh the idea off. She was always the religiously inclined one, even after the Leto fiasco.

Start it in Lior, yes, but for the opening lines of the broken-and-patched fairy tale that was the two of them together, not Rose or Envy but Envy-and-Rose… She knew what they would be.

_Once there was a girl called Rose, who believed everything._

_Once there was a homunculus called Envy, who always lied._

_They were destined to meet._

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><p><em>AN:… seriously, they were._

_Reviews are treasured, blessed and help me write and feel happier. Just so you know. And they really make my day. _


	2. Dice

_A/N: Double update because I'm insane with tiredness, and a lot of my writing inhibitions are gone. Blame Inner Spinney if you don't like it. _

_Warnings: None really. Slight AU (did not happen but is still set in the main series structure as we know it). _

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><p><em>02. Dice<em>

She kept her head down at the table, feeling definitely that she did not belong here; with a wince, she tried to ignore the rattling of dice and shuffling of cards in the background, and nervously fiddled with her drink. The smoky air of the bar was strange, and she could feel eyes beginning to be drawn to her, the drooping little flower at the table in the corner, alone and unprotected. Rose swallowed hard, closing her eyes; why had she even come here…?

The chair on the other side of the table shifted. "I almost didn't expect to see you here," a voice said. Gruff but not unpleasant, like any number of the workers who usually came here, but for a moment _his _tone of disbelieving amusement underlies it.

She frowns unhappily at his current form, only vaguely appreciating that the intimidating stature he'd chosen had done pretty well at dissuading attention towards her.

"Why did you tell me to meet you here?" Rose asked softly, her voice hoarse from the smoggy atmosphere.

"Because I'd never thought you'd actually come," he counters, eyebrow raised.

She pauses, puzzled for a moment.

"Then why were you here anyway?"

It was his turn to pause.

"I…don't know."

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><p><em>AN: Reviews make meh happy. _


	3. Somewhere I Didn't Intend To Travel

_A/N: Three reviews! They totally made my morning, as did the alerts and favorites *hugs Starjean* Thank you for the sweet feedback! And BlackHayate02... Um… thanks? _

_Warnings: None really. This was inspired by 'Somewhere I Have Never Traveled, Gladly Beyond', a DeiSaku I just finished marathon reading that gave me the desperate urge to drop Envy and Rose in a foreign location. The vague idea was that they tried to meet in Central and almost got discovered, so Envy freaked out and… well, things happen._

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><p><em>03. Doubt<em>

"Where do you think we are?"

Rose stared down at the sea crashing at the foot of the cliff. "Not Amestris, at least."

"How do you know that?" Envy's tone was sharp, but underneath was an undercurrent of anxiety; although she had been unconscious for most of a day, Rose could put three and six together from the trees broken down in several place, the enormous footprints, and the fact that they had gotten from Central, where meeting up had turned out to be a bad idea, to some other country - possibly Areugo or something - in less than a night. It sent a cold shiver across her skin that she'd again come frighteningly close to his true form.

"Amestris is landlocked," she said as casually as possible, uncomfortable with the knowledge that as little as she knew, she was a lot better with geography than him. "A few of the surrounding countries border on the sea, though."

"Ah, right," was the quick response, as if he'd known and had just been reminded. She tried not to smile as he turned around, looking doubtfully at the landscape. "We should find a town to see where we are."

"Good idea." Her legs were beginning to ache, reminding her of the rough handling she'd most likely gotten while unconscious. "Head west?"

In the moment where she could see confusion in his eyes she realized her mistake, and quickly added "Inland?"

This was going to be an interesting journey.

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><p><em>AN: In my headcanon, Envy is hopeless with directions and locations. Reviews are, as always, appreciated greatly. _


	4. I'll Be Watching You

_A/N: And another! Envy's pretty fascinating to watch in the anime or manga; one can imagine he'd be just as interesting in real life. _

_Warnings: none really (there WILL be ones that actually require the warning section coming up, though), semi-canon or slightly AU depending on how you look at it. _

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><p><em>04. Pose<em>

She couldn't stop watching him.

When he noticed he'd sometimes snap at her or laugh, almost preening, depending on the mood he was in; she'd learnt to throw out one of the easy retorts her time with him had taught her, or just smile and indulge him, and get right back to staring.

He wasn't human. It was so obvious sometimes it sent shivers through her, when his mouth stretched impossibly wide for one of his sharp grins, when he laughed like some kind of demented child over seeing a fight in the streets, when he'd look at her in a bad moment and she'd see nothing but his namesake sin burning in his eyes, like the peak of a disease, before he subsided to a more manageable level again.

Sometimes, though, it was hard to remind herself of it. When he smiled more quietly, when something caught him off guard and his eyes went wide and almost innocent for a second, when he'd every now and then consent to keeping his 'cute' appearance but wearing more normal clothes.

They're always there, the human moments to hint at what just might be, the inhuman to remind her of why it couldn't be.

Whichever way it goes in the end, she reminds herself with a smile as he notices her attention and almost strikes a pose, tilting his head so his dark hair falls against his cheek in the way she loves; whatever happened, he was here now, and she was going to remember every moment of him that she could.

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><p><em>AN: Hmm… That also turned out faintly _Somewhere I Never Traveled _flavored at the end as well. What the heck, cross-moral romances are always going to have certain similar elements. _

_Reviews are cuddled and loved. How else can I convince you?_

_Um… I have some paperclips… a subway ticket… and, oh! Thirty-seven cents. Don't tell me you can resist that. _


	5. Protector

_A/N: An update with special thanks to CursedBunny, who's shown support for my other Envy x Rose fics and now this one. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything in here. Not even the kid, she appeared in the anime. _

_Warnings: Um… some blood, rioting in the background, thoughts by homunculi about the death of small children. There's a vague reference to my fic 'Moment of Warmth' in here, just the fact that he's seen her before. Set during the Lior riots. _

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><p><em>06. Scream<em>

Not really caring to disguise himself as human, he leant back against the shadowed wall and merely changed his skin to the color of the bricks, blending in to the casual glance. Nobody on the streets - mostly fighting or running for safety - was especially concerned with looking twice at a wall.

Envy smirked as blood splashed across the cobbles and a child started screaming; not that it had been the one injured, but it had probably never seen a fight before. The little girl partially across the square sank to the ground, sobbing as she clutched a ragged teddy, and the homunculus cocked his head to the side as he waited for something to happen. Maybe somebody would get annoyed by the noise and kill it, he thought hopefully, or somebody would try to drive a cart through and run it over.

Instead of a million much more pleasant options happening, quiet footsteps drifted to his ears through the noise of struggle, and his eyes narrowed.

Her.

The brown-and-pink-haired girl slid cautiously along the side of the square, keeping away from the fighting until she reached the child. Envy watched, his mouth twisting in anger and puzzlement as she crouched down and spoke gently to it, putting her arm around it.

Well, at least she had shut it up.

Then inexplicably, impossibly, her eyes moved up and swept the area, and the only area he hadn't disguised had been his eyes, and -

How could it be possible for two gazes to collide at such a distance?

But she saw him, he knew, because she leapt to her feet with a look of shock (he supposed a wall with piercing violet eyes wasn't something humans saw every day) and quickly stepped in front of the child, her expression changing to challenging as she did so.

It was as if she, in that strange look and gesture, were attempting to protect the whole human race from him.

Envy found his teeth grinding together so hard his jaw hurt, and quickly closed his eyes; now he was completely disguised, the girl would think that what she saw was a trick of her imagination, and he wouldn't have to look at that _sickening _scene anymore.

Too bad it was burnt into his mind's eye.

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><p><em>AN: Aw… one of the things I like about pairing Rose with Envy is, unlike a lot of the OCs people pair him with (definitely not referring to Claire, Bunny, she's fine!) she actually… really objects to the whole killing-people thing. But I can still see her being determined that she can help him…_

_How are new chapters made? Well, when a reader loves a story very much, they review and that makes the writer make a new chapter…_


	6. Touched

_Surprisingly, I'm not dead. _

_Mainly I'm in other places now - PM me and I'll let you know where - and more of a Naruto fan, because in my long forced hiatus me and my sister really got into it. But since the recent chapters have been going to hell I've been fondly remembering FMA, and my wonderful reviewers, and so at risk of life, limb and writing I'm uploading this, because I love you guys. _

_Updates will still be happening once in a blue moon, unless something out-of-the-way happens. I've got a jillion other things going on. _

_But anyways, enjoy. Written several months ago at this point, to the prompt 'Touched', here's another chapter of Thorns Have Roses._

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><p>He wonders if Father knows.<p>

It's nerve-racking, now, to stand in front of him, trying to act like normal while he's inwardly shaking with fear. All his life Father has been omnipresent, less parent than god, and the idea that there can be something he doesn't know is almost as terrifying as the possibility he would find out.

How could he not know? Envy can feel the marks burn on his skin whenever Father looks at him, where he, Envy, has allowed himself to be touched by a human. Not as part of a cover, not during a kill, but…

_Rose moved closer to him, raising a hand so it almost brushed against his cheek. "You're so cold," she said softly, fascinated. "You don't seem to have any body heat."_

"_I don't need it." Her hand radiated heat, making him uncomfortable, and he grabbed her wrist to move it; it almost burned under his hand, making his skin warm slightly in reaction, and a shiver went through the girl. "You're so _warm," _he retaliated. "How do you even survive in the heat?"_

_She smiled a little. "Humans have to be adaptable, I guess. But sometimes we do die if it gets too hot."_

"_I know…" he replied absent-mindedly, pale fingertips brushing over the palm of his hand, then his cheek. For the first time, as the burning heat of Rose's body faded from his skin, he began to understand what it might feel like, to be that - warm. _

It had been a bad idea to ever let her touch him; he knew that now, painfully and bitterly. But who knew that warmth could be so addicting?

He covers his mouth and thanks Truth silently that he doesn't blush when Father glances his way, and almost hates her for just being what she is; but subconsciously, and even more bitterly, he knows that the craving for touch is all his.

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><p><em>I always imagined that Envy, when not directly pretending to be human, wouldn't have any natural body heat. <em>

_I know it's been ages, but if you want to leave a review…_


	7. Letters to heaven

_And since I'm on a guilt trip, here's a double update. This one written five minutes ago, for the prompt 'Sincerely Yours'. Includes a personal little Envy/Rose theory I have._

_I can only kowtow at Hiromu Arakawa's greatness. I can never hope to BE her. Therefore, I do not own these characters, just my meager writing. _

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><p><em>Darling,<em>

_I miss you more and more as the days go by. Burying myself in work - you'd tell me I was pushing myself too hard, if you were here - at the church only helps a little. Sometimes I feel like I'm living on nothing but empty promises. _

_I try to convince myself sometimes that I was only supposed to be with you for a brief space of time. That my life was so perfect when you were with me because that was the little space of Heaven on earth I was allotted, and I should not want more. _

_But then… I miss you so much I can't sleep or think, and I find myself praying to Leto: 'Cast me into Hell forever, if I might have him with me again. I would gladly endure it for him.' _

_You'd tell me I was being silly… but that's how I feel. _

_But I shouldn't tire you with my pain. I'm being selfish. I hope you are happy, wherever you are, and Leto willing we will meet again._

_Sincerely yours,_

_Your Rose. _

He reads her letters, even though he knows bitterly they're not really meant for him, that the grave they're left by contains nothing but a decomposing simulacrum. Kain never existed, and she never really knew Envy, but the paper is warm under his fingers and smells faintly of roses as he sits high above the town to peruse them, and it's the only time somebody's written something that he can pretend was meant for him.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm living on nothing but empty promises'," he whispers to himself, and thinks of the Day, and homunculi and humans and Father's words on both, and the truth he really didn't want to approach.

He shies away from the thoughts in a moment.

He can't shake the feeling that she's not the only one.

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><p><em>Spinner's FMA Theory Number 1: <em>

_Kain was Envy. _

_Think about it. You never see the guy onscreen, do you? He could have been Chuck Norris, for all we know! (Wait, no… he died… couldn't have been Chuck. We can rule out Chuck.) Envy could easily have scouted out the location for Lust beforehand, seeing as he runs in to help her out with Lior later on, and gotten integrated a bit into the society while he was checking it out. Him being Kain would also hold up the themes of love and faith side-by-side with harsh truths, lies and betrayal that Rose's story holds. _

_Feel free to review. I'm not gonna stop you._


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